Purpl Pro is a mini testing machine for cannabis potency. It is made available to fulfill the dream of instant portable potency measurement. The first pocket size potency analyzer made by Purpl Scientific. It is built to partner with your smartphone essentially making it into a state of the art Potency Measurement System. Consequently providing test results in seconds. Yes, it is that easy! Just your handy smartphone and the pocket size Purpl Pro can let you know the THC percentage in your flower.

I got to see the Purpl Pro in action at MJBizCon, and it was an amazing little device. With a small amount of herb ground up and put in, you know your THC percentage quickly. Although it is made for cultivators in mind, I could see myself going in on this with some friends just to test different flowers out. I hope in the future they add testing for residual solvents. It would be great if it can also test cartridges and extracts in the future.

Purpl Scientific – The Company That Makes Purpl Pro

Purpl Scientific’s development team is based in Finland. The team is primarily composed of innovators, scientists and engineers in optical science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, miniaturization, networking, mobile application development and more. Their long history of food safety solutions has become the foundation to expand their reach into the cannabis industry. Specifically, adding a team of cannabis scientists, researchers and consultants. Their purpose has led to their first installment of solution – Purpl Pro.

purpl scientific team based finland
Purpl Scientific with its development team based in Finland.

Cannabis testing terms simplified by PURPL SCIENTIFIC.

Purpl Scientific has a page of terms related to cannabis testing. We’ll go over those below.

  • Cannabis (cannabis sativa) – genus of plants that include both hemp and marijuana, all of which contain some portion of cannabinoids like THC and CBD.
  • Potency – the amount of cannabinoids present in cannabis, generally measured as the weight of these cannabinoids relative to the whole. Potency is used to describe individual cannabinoid percentage (i.e. THC, THCa, CBD,…) and the total amounts (i.e. Total THC).
  • CBD (cannabidiol) – generally the most present cannabinoid after THC, but without the psychoactive effects. Typically used for therapeutic purposes like pain or anxiety. 
  • CBDa (cannabidiolic acid) – the precursor to CBD. Generally found in and on cannabis plants, but doesn’t have much effect on the body. It becomes CBD after drying and/or heating.
  • THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) – the primary psychoactive cannabinoid in cannabis. 
  • THCa (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid) – the precursor to THC. Generally found in and on cannabis plants, but doesn’t have much effect on the body. It becomes THC after drying and/or heating
  • Total CBD – total amount of CBD and CBDa.
  • Total THC – total amount of THC and THCa.

What’s the strength of your cannabis?

A top priority for recreational and medicinal users is knowing the cannabis strength before stashing them. THC gives the psychoactive effect. Thus, a strain that is high in this chemical may be too strong and alter normal functions. Inexperienced users should be wary on this. Strains with plenty of CBD offer health and medical benefits without the high sensation that THC provides.

purpl pro purpl scientific smarthpone app
Purpl Pro Smartphone App

Potency transparency brought to you by the Purpl Pro

As emphasized by Purpl Inc., the end goal for cannabis cultivators is to make a consistent, high quality product that commands the best profit. Agriculture uses a lot of analytical technology to achieve the same ultimate aims. However, not all of that technology has made its way to cannabis cultivation.

Purpl Pro will allow the cultivators identify strains with their specific potency. In effect, will save great amount of time and effort in the grower’s level.

Consequently, knowledge in all levels – distributors, manufacturers, extractors, dispensaries and consumers is attainable. Each one can validate by having their own Purpl Pro.

purpl pro pocket size cannabis potency machine
Purpl Pro – the world’s first pocket size cannabis potency machine.

Current Limitation and Future Application

Provided that the current testing analysis use dried cannabis. Therefore, consumer level testing benefits those who use dry herbs excluding concentrates, extracts and edibles.

The ultimate goal is to analyze potency of every cannabis product available using a portable device with accurate simplified application. Thus, Purpl Inc. is pursuing research and development for extracts, moisture and terpene measurement using the same idea from Purpl Pro. They’re not resting on their laurels. Actually, companies like Purpl Scientific Inc. need everybody’s support if we want the cannabis industry to evolve thru the right path.

8 COMMENTS

  1. In early 2020 my extractor manufacturing company was going to be a Purpl Pro dealer so we bought 4 of the devices (minimum order). After receiving them, but before offering them to our customers, I created and executed a test grid comparing results of the device against Health Canada-approved lab results of a variety of Canadian Licenced Producer cannabis strains. Despite PurPl Scientific’s claims of fast and accurate, the PurPl Pro was inconsistent and extremely sensitive to humidity levels. I tried to reach their customer service but was unable to make contact until I called the President directly (poor customer service). When I did make contact with their technical guy he told me that water measurement was in development and would be an optional upgrade. When I showed him my test results he acknowledged that humidity did affect the results but that they felt it was close enough as-is. He also told me that oil testing would not be available for quite some time. I subsequently told the president that the product did not perform as advertised and that I could not offer it to my customers in its current state of development. The president told me that the best he could do was a 50% refund. I took the refund only because it was better than nothing – but I felt then, and I feel now, that I was forced to the refund under duress. In my opinion, the product does not work as advertised and their business practice is offensive. Let the buyer beware.

    • Thanks for commenting! When we first saw the product it looked impressive, but if it is not working right then it’s junk.

      On top of the fact that now you really need testing for pesticides and all that anyway, maybe the PurplPro is a bit more irrelevant as a device for this market altogether.

      How did they have you pay for the devices? Sometimes a credit card would cover that

  2. Stay away from this. I bought 4 (was going to be a dealer) and had to return them all because they did not work as advertised – not even close. Then they charged me 50% restocking charge.

    • Thanks for commenting!

      What parts about it did not work right? That restocking fee is awful

      I thought it’s overall relevance went down a bit as people were looking to test more for pesticides and things like that

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